In April 2016, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued updated standards governing the meal pattern requirements for the Child and Adult Care Food Programs (CACFP), effective October 1, 2017. The updated standards will require participating providers to serve more whole grains, a greater variety of fruits and vegetables, and reduce the amount of solid fats and added sugars (SOFAS) in meals.
Funded Projects
Surprisingly little is known about how housing policy and neighborhood features impact health. This project will identify evidence-based housing policies to improve health, and develop a measure to understand the real-time impact of housing policy on health outcomes.
Federal housing assistance benefits 11 million people through three main programs: public housing, project-based Section 8 housing, and housing choice vouchers. Researchers use multiple datasets to examine the effects of federal housing assistance programs on food security, health-promoting behaviors, and health outcomes.
While transportation planning has not traditionally been linked to health, it affects health in various ways. This project will analyze policies around transportation-associated access to health care, develop a transportation-related project to reduce injuries and mortality, assess the affects that access to cycling has on health, and develop measures of transportation-sensitive health conditions.